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sort of rents gained on the private market. The Housing Finance Bill brings Council House rents to the same rate as private housing and therefore means an end to subsided housing except for those who quality for the means tested rebate.
GENERAL ATTACK When our capitalist economy is in trouble, governments attempt to solve their problems at the expense of the section who can least afford it the working class. So we see policies from this government and the last Labour government which cut wage demands, increase unemployment, raise prices, and cut the social services. The Industrial Relations Act aims to prevent workers from gaining wage rises or even from keeping up with the cost of living. Unemployment is aimed to curb militancy and cut production costs. Price rises and cuts in social services make wage rises meaningless and further reduce living standards, The Housing Finance Bill is a particular heavy attack and more than any other price-rise or social service cut brings down the real wages of a large section of the working class.
SELECTIVE ATTACK As well as doubling Council House rents over the next three years, this will enable private landlords of unfurnished property also to put up the rent to the "Fair Rent" level, ie. valued according to steeply rising property prices. However people getting a mortgage to buy their own house who even hefore the Bill received nearly double the subsidy of Council House tenants, will continue to get that subsidy. This Bill is aimed only at people who live in council houses and other rented houses. The rent increases are bound to drive some Council House tenants from their homes, which in turn will increase house prices. The government aims to greatly reduce the number of council houses ly the twin policies of ending the subsidy and encouraging tenants to buy their own houses. A smaller number of Council Houses at high rents means an increase in slum housing and homelessness.
Some families will qualify for a rebate but most people who are due for rebates do not claim. More important, the means test makes subsidized housing not a right but a charity hand-out. Through this bill the government is dividing tenants so that those who have to pay the full increase are cut off from those who do not-especially the unemployed and others on social security. Again a section of the working class are blamed for government policy, just as immigrants and strikers are made the scapegoat for unemployment, and high prices. THE LABOUR PARTY The Labour Party have opposed this bill in Parliament, but how much does this opposition mean? They have a record on housing which matches the Tories! In the 1964-70 Labour government a target of half million houses was set which would have only just kept pace with deteriorating houses and a growing population. But in their last year in government the number sank to 200,000 houses a year, It was the Labour Party who in their 1965 and 1968 Acts established the idea of "fair rents". Although many Labour Party supporters thought these Acts would protect tenants, in fact out of a sample of 1,000 cases brought before the rent tribunals, 500 rents went up, only about 100 went down and the rest stayed the same. The Labour Party were accepting as "fair" the rents produced by the rises in property prices. In other words a fair rent is on one which allows the property dealer and landlords to make more and more money on the property market.
URANG NO HELP FROM THE LABOUR PARTY At local level Labour Councils have consistently put up council rents. They have to put up rents if they are to pay off the debts on Council Housing for Moneylenders get at least 16 shillings out of every pound paid in council rent. Thus in spite of occasional claims to be a socialist party, the Labour Party shows that it recognises the rights of profiteers. Tenants cannot expect help from the Labour Party since they administer the system as it is to the benefit of those who own and control property. However the Labour Party condemns the Tory Bill and has pledged itself to repeal the Bill when it comes to power, In fact they are not likely to radically alter the Bill even though many Labour M.P.s support subsidized housing. In office they will have to solve the same problems as the Tories. In a small number of areas (like Liverpool) Labour Councils have promised to refuse to implement the Law. This 1s against Labour Party (National) Policy because the Labour Party considers that political action should be confined to the ballot box. Thus whether it is the Industrial Relations Act or the Housing Finance Bill we must obey the "Law of the Land". However much we disagree with the law we must not take action against it.
TENANT'S ACTION The Labour Party, then, are very much opposed to action by the tenants against the Bill. In Preston the Socialist Woman Group and other groups organized tenants' committees to mobilize tenants on all the estates in Preston arguing that the only way to fight the Bill was through a refusal by tenants to pay the increase. We came up against a great deal of opposition from the Labour Party, even to the extent where their members were warned not to associate with Socialist Woman or the campaign. The Labour Party moved into each estate after we had held our meetings to take advantage of the groundwork we had done to gain electoral support and divert attention away from action by the tenants themselves, They continually told tenants that they would be evicted for non-payment of the increase and therefore greatly contributed to the collapse of the rent strike in its second week by discouraging and frightening tenants. This was at a time when they were about to take control of the Council and were in a position to promise no'evictions. This was to be expected from a party which asks the working-class to delegate their power, and wishes to restrict political action to voting once every five years, The working class can make laws unworkable if it is not under the illusion that the Labour Party will radically change those laws. The only way this Bill can be defeated is through the action of tenants in refusing to pay rent increases and (if necessary) with the support of industrial action. To show that they will not accept any increase on the rent from any government, Labour or Tory.
Cath Ryde, Marion Eves, Heather Read, Viv Varley Preston S. W.G.
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THEY COULDN'T DO A THING WITHOUT MONEY LENDERS